Carriers Adopt Content Rating for Cellphones - New York Times

The nation's major cellular phone carriers said yesterday that they had adopted a content rating system for video, music, pictures and games that they sell to cellphone users - a development that could pave the way for them to begin selling pornography and sex-oriented content on mobile devices.

The carriers said the ratings, meant to mimic content classifications for movies and video games, are voluntary.

Initially, the carriers would classify content in two categories: general interest and restricted content deemed appropriate only for people over the age of 18.

The carriers said they had agreed not to begin making restricted content available until they had developed filters and other technological tools that would enable parents to prevent children from getting access to inappropriate material.

Protecting the Cellphone User's Right to Hide

Protecting the Cellphone User's Right to HideThe software, known as Privacy-Conscious Personalization, works like this: Users set their preferences on when they want their whereabouts disclosed through menu-based screens on the cellphone or at the wireless carrier's Web site. They can choose to restrict knowledge of their location depending on their activity, the time of day or who is requesting the data.

Lost? Hiding? Your Cellphone Is Keeping Tabs

Lost? Hiding? Your Cellphone Is Keeping TabsDriven by worries about safety, the need for accountability, and perhaps a certain "I Spy" impulse, families and employers are adopting surveillance technology once used mostly to track soldiers and prisoners. New electronic services with names like uLocate and Wherify Wireless make a very personal piece of information for cellphone users — physical location — harder to mask.